Irony Of Living revisisted
by Sevvy Snape
Summary: I've re-thought everything with Irony of Living and it is being re-written, with changed details and things.
1. Default Chapter

Some stories start at a specific event and manage to carry though to a conclusion with sufficient meaning and depth to make the tale worth something. Where a story should start varies, depending on the people and the situation. To understand the present itself isn't it said that History offers the best explanation to be found? 

To truly do justice to the story of any person or place, it would have to span over centuries and countries to truly dissect why these events are occurring. Yet not many people have a lifetime in which to pen such a novel and even less have the lifetime to read it. However in some cases it is presumed the reader would have some prior knowledge of a culture or person. Yet in this story nothing in the way of prior knowledge of this particular person was ever offered, not even to those he was closest too in many respects. So to best understand the person privileged in this particular chronicle the fitting place to select to begin his little tale of sorts would be a childhood of discontent. As said, to understand the present you must understand the past and to understand an individual's personality you must understand the circumstances in which it developed. No one can truly understand another person on this planet, no one can experience some influences in the exact same way as anyone else, that is why two people are the same, and no one certainly is like this man.

**Authors Notes: **

In a fit of boredom I revised this story and found that I dislike a lot about it, the writing, the details, things that weren't consistent. So now I have decided to re-write something that has thus far taken me something over two years to get up to 20 something chapters and re-write it in a short period of time. I plan to do a fair bit of it over the next three days as I have them free. 

Characters have been revised, events have been revised. 

Well. There you are.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Authors Notes: **_ Well I got here in the end. I'm changing Irony of Living to be more canon friendly and just less embarrassing. Certainly it needs to be changed to include the Lily Evans infatuation Severus Snape had because it is his whole motivation in the end to change sides. I'm certainly no writer these days but I hope that the story will be passable and I will be able to finish it.

**Best Friend**

It was a beautiful day.

Severus Snape had been waiting under the usual tree for more than an hour now though he barely noticed the time. He was busily pouring over his new textbooks for the year coming at Hogwarts, a sudden relief to the boredom and misery he was forced to endure while home for the summer. Or at least the boredom and misery he was forced to endure when he wasn't with his best friend.

Suddenly his black eyes snapped upwards and with a flood of joy he spotted her jogging towards him through the trees, crunching nosily over twigs and leaves.

"Sev!" Lily Evans cried out breathlessly, skidding to a halt before him. She grinned wide and threw herself beside him as she forced her messy red hair back from her face. "I'm sorry I'm late! I was trying to catch up on my letters! It's so hard with 'Tuney sneaking around. "

She frowned suddenly but it disappeared as fast as it had come. She dragged one of the new textbooks from the top of the pile across into her lap and ran her hand over the cover.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to Diagon Alley with you." She said finally, lifting her eyes to meet his.

He shrugged and tried to look as indifferent as he could manage, shifting his gaze away from her for the first time she since she had arrived.

"We couldn't stay long anyway; my father doesn't really like it much when we go away to ...those places." As he spoke he tossed the defence against the dark arts textbook he'd been clutching back onto the pile with a loud bang. He suddenly felt warm and embarrassed at this admission and irritated that he'd turned the conversation towards something he had no wish to discuss.

Lily gave him a small smile and leant across to squeeze his arm comfortingly.

"Two weeks!" She chirped suddenly, handing him the potions book she had picked up and snatching up the book he'd just abandoned. "Come on; let's get a head start on everyone else. You might be able to beat me at something in potions this year."

Severus opened the potions book, but his gaze lingered on Lily who had began to idly flip through the book she held. He was grateful she did not probe him, or ask about the yellowing bruises on his arms or why his mother hadn't healed them for him. He felt embarrassed of how lonely he'd been moping around at home, shut up in his room whilst she replied to all the letters he imagined she had flooding in from her many friends at Hogwarts.

He forced his jealously down and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth suddenly. It didn't matter who she'd been writing to, she was here now, with him under the trees where a year earlier he had explained his world to her. Comforted by this he opened his book and turned the first crisp page and began to read in the amiable silence.

When the air began to cool and the sun began to drop into the horizon Lily stood and began to brush the leaves from her muggle jeans.

"Dinner will be soon, I'd better get going." She offered him a hand up which he eagerly accepted. Lily stooped to collect the textbooks as he brushed the leaves from his own mismatched muggle clothes.

"Do you want me to help carry these home?"

"No." Severus answered firmly snatching them out of her arms. "I can manage by myself."

Lily frowned again picking up the last few books from the ground and placing them in his arms. She chewed her lip distractedly watching Severus blush furiously, the pink flooding his pale cheeks obvious even under the falling veil of dusk. He kicked at the earth under his feet angrily with nothing to say but wishing to delay the farewell.

"Will you let me walk some of the way with you?" Lily asked quietly after the silence had become deeply uncomfortable and tense. At this Severus gave her another rare half smile and nodded sheepishly.

"If you'd like."

They dawdled homeward bound together planning for the year ahead. Severus told Lily the rumours about the new DADA teacher coming to teach at Hogwarts and they speculated as to why the previous professor had suddenly quit. Severus remained firm on his opinion that the teacher simply could not deal with James Potter and with not having enough room to teach when Potter's gigantic head was around. Lily laughed at this but did not comment.

"This is me." Severus sighed suddenly, looking down towards Spinners End. "Have fun visiting your family."

Lily reached out and grabbed Severus's hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze.

"I'll see you in two weeks." She promised earnestly, "I'll write to you, but only if you actually reply this time."

The two 12 year olds stood on the corner of the street holding hands for a moment longer, staring at one another until Lily squeezed Severus's hand once more and whispered. "Good Luck."

He nodded dropping her hand and turning away to start down his street. Dread filled his every step as he realised he had been out much later than he ought to have been. He hoped sadly that his absence had gone unnoticed, much like his presence tended to.

Standing on the front steps he leant against the door wearily, listening to the shouts leaking out from inside the small dwelling. The carefree afternoon by the river felt like years ago, like he'd seen a muggle film of someone else's pleasant life. He set his books down and sunk onto the step, his head falling to rest on his knees. If he could go unnoticed for a bit longer...


End file.
